The Guru Report: Comeback City as Huge Saint Joseph’s Win Returns Hawks To The Top of the Atlantic Ten

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — Two comebacks down in Fairfax, Va., have Saint Joseph’s once again alone atop of the Atlantic 10 following a huge 59-47 win over George Mason Thursday night at EagleBank Arena.

 

The outcome matches the best overall start in the Hawks’ history at 22-2 first set in the 1976-77 season and the 11-1 conference record gives them a half-game lead in the standings involving four teams that have given the A-10 renewed strength.

 

Furthermore, coach Cindy Griffin’s squad leads the nation with 12 wins among teams with perfect unbeaten records in true road games.

 

The first comeback was Laura Ziegler, returning after missing two games with an undisclosed medical situation and responding with game highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds for her sixth straight double double.

 

The second was the Hawks themselves, down 10 points early in the second quarter but responding with a 13-0 run and outscoring the Patriots 25-13 overall in the period to surge in front and stay ahead the rest of the way.

 

The Saint Joseph’s defense locked down George Mason (18-4, 9-2) close to 30 points below the Patriots’ average, hitting them with their first home loss following a 9-0 run and snapping an eight-game win streak while extending their own current run to nine games.

 

Tayla Brugler and Mackenzie Smith each scored 11 points, the latter moving within three points of her 1,000^th career point. Chloe Welch contributed nine points from the backcourt.

 

Ta’Viyanna Habib was the lone player in double figures for George Mason with 12 points, while her eight rebounds and the same number from Jazmyn were team highs.

 

Foul shooting continued to serve the Hawks well as one of the nation’s best on the line were 10-12 while George Mason struggled at 3-14.

 

Saint Joseph’s sits as the favorite in its next two games, returning to Hagan Arena next Wednesday on Valentines Day at 7 p.m. hosting Dayton and then the following Sunday taking a short trip over to Big Five rival La Salle at 2 p.m at Tom Gola Arena, both games will air on ESPN+.

 

The Hawks played the Explorers at home last month, the win giving them a 4-0 sweep of the City Series while a win in their meeting besides making it a sweep this season in their long running rivalry likely clinches a top four seed for next month’s A-10 tourney in suburban Richmond in Virginia which carries in double bye into the quarterfinals.

 

In the only other A-10 game Thursday and one of just three others involving local teams, we were here in Tom Gola Arena to see La Salle (7-15, 4-7) get crushed by second-year member Loyola Chicago 73-39.

 

The Ramblers (12-11, 6-6) under second-year coach Allison Guth, previously at Yale in the Ivy League, are vastly improved compared to their conference debut, which Explorers coach Mountain McGillivray was quick to acknowledge.

“They played pretty good basketball, they moved the ball effectively,” he said. “It was a tough night, it was a buzzsaw out there.

 

“They were not a good Atlantic 10 team last year, and that’s the same kids.”

 

Nicole Melious had. 14 points for La Salle, while Makayla Miller scored 10.

 

The Ramblers had 19 points and 10 rebounds from Sitori Tanin, while Sam Galanopoulos scored 13.

 

“I didn’t we wouold be back to Rutgers,” the La Salle coach referenced a gruesome loss early in the season. “I didn’t think we would be back to November.”

 

La Salle on Saturday goes to Pittsburgh to play Duquesne at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Penn State Falls at Iowa: In a high-scoring 111-93 Big Ten game at No. 2 Iowa Caitlin Clark got her points and moved ever closer to the NCAA Division I women’s career record but the scoring of the night for the winning Hawkeyes (22-2, 11-1) was Hannah Stuelke with a career-high 47 points in the game before another sellout crowd in Iowa City.

 

Clark had 27 while dealing 11 assists bringing her career total to 3,489, just 38 away from the current mark set by former Washington star Kelsey Plum.

 

The Hawkeyes senior actually struggled somewhat, committing a career-high 12 turnovers.

 

Iowa is tied for first with No. 5 Ohio State in the conference.

 

It took a while for Ashley Owusu to get untracked for Penn State (16-7, 7-5), which fell into a three-way tie for fourth. Leilani Kapinus and Makenna Marisa each scored 12 points.

 

The Lady Lions move on to Wisconsin, Sunday, while Iowa the same day heads to Nebraska for a game based on the multitude of 30 plus achievements by Clark could be the one that goes into the history books.

 

In the other local action, Rider was missing its two top stars in Taylor Langan and Jessika Schiffer because of illness and fell in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game on the road to Mount St. Mary’s 64-43 in an afternoon attraction in Emmitsburg, Md.

 

The Broncs (5-16, 2-10) made it through the first quarter with a slim 13-12 lead before the Mountaineers  (8-13, 5-7) took over the next two to ride to victory.

 

“Obviously, we weren't a healthy team today, down two starters, and some others really just gutting it out,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan.

 

“Offensively, we were out of flow with the new lineups. The one thing we needed to do better is defend and rebound. That was the difference in the game, most of their buckets were second chance opportunities.

 

“We've got to focus on rebounding a lot over this next day and a half to make sure we're only giving teams one shot at the basket.”

 

No one scored in double figures for Rider, though Kaylan Deveney came came close with nine points.

 

On Saturday, The Broncs host Manhattan at 2 p.m. in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. on ESPN+.

 

The National Scene: In the Atlantic Coast Conference there were two upsets if one is defining the outcome by ranking numbers.

 

No. 15 Louisville (20–4, 9-2) at home in Kentucky beat visiting No. 12 Notre Dame 73-66 ruining the game for Irish freshman Hannah Hidalgo from Haddonfield, N.J., who had 30 points for the fifth time this season and set the program freshman record for season scoring by a rookie passing the previous mark of 529 by Shari Matve set in 1979-80.

 

She had seven steals for the Irish (17-5, 7-4) setting a new ACC record in a season.

 

Nylah Harris had a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for Louisville.

 

No. 16 Virginia Tech (19-4, 10-2) made it a season sweep beating No. 3 NC State 72-61 in Raleigh as the Hokies got 25 points and 13 rebounds from Elizabeth Kitley and connected on 11 three-pointers.

 

Georgia Amoore added 12 points and 10 assists with eight rebounds for the visitors.

 

Madison Hayes had 20 points for the Wolfpack (20-3, 8-3).

 

In the SEC No. 1 South Carolina (22-0) the last unbeaten team got 19 points from freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley in an 83-45 win over visiting Missouri.

 

Alabama beat visiting Tennessee 72-56 as Aaliyah Nye had 23 points for the winning Crimson Tide (19-6, 6-4) and Rickea Jackson had 13 points for the Lady Vols (14-8, 7-3).

 

In the MAAC Fairfield beat Marist 76-49 to run the Stags overall record to 20-1. 

 

Looking Ahead: Just one local game on Friday as Delaware hosts William & Mary in the Coastal Athletic Association at 7 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark___.

 

In the PAC-12, No. 4 Colorado hosts Oregon at 9 p.m.; No. 16 Utah is hosting No. 20 Oregon State at 10 p.m; No. 10 Southern Cal is hosting Arizona State at 10 p.m.; No. 6 Stanford is at as Washington at 10 p.m.; and No. 9 UCLA is hosting Arizona at 11 p.m.

 

And that is the report.